Dying of the Light
by Rogue Ronin
Summary: A sequel to Delicious Torment: Now that the Dynasty and the mortal world are merged, what does this mean? Will this merger between the two realms be forever? And what does Talpa mean by the dying of the light? Completed
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: Konichiwa! Ok straight to the point, I don't own anything that deals with the Ronin Warriors in any way or fashion. So don't try and go there, ha! lol The only character(s) that is/are mine is/are Kaye, Sian, and Lightning (a silver tiger with golden stripes and golden eyes that is a telepath, and can teleport, might put him in and might not, depends on how it goes, lol) This fic is a sequel to Delicious Torment, just a little fyi. Also I don't own the poem @ the beginning of this fic, the rightful one is Dylan Thomas. Email is cokeacola_75@hotmail.com   
  
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DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT  
  
Do not go gentle into that good night,  
  
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;  
  
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.  
  
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,  
  
Because their words had forked no lightning they  
  
Do not go gentle into that good night.  
  
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright  
  
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,  
  
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.  
  
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,  
  
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,  
  
Do not go gentle into that good night.  
  
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight  
  
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,  
  
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.  
  
And you, my father, there on the sad height,  
  
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.  
  
Do not go gentle into that good night.  
  
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.  
  
(Poem by Dylan Thomas)  
  
Dying of the Light  
  
Ch 1  
  
"This can't be happening!" Ryo thought in disbelief as he stared wide-eyed as the merging of the Dynasty and the mortal world has begun. As the merging was taking place, the ground was shaking violently; the winds were baying like a wolf at a full moon. The cement ceiling started to fall down all around them. The whirlpools at the bottom were starting to crash violently against each other. The land bridge that was there one minute, and then in a blink of an eye it was gone.   
  
"Ryo, come on, we have to get out of here," Sage yelled as he was trying to get Ryo out of his current state of shock. "Ryo!"  
  
"It's no good, he's not responding! It's like he went all catatonic!" Rowen yelled back from the high winds.  
  
"Cata what?" Kento yelled in confusion.  
  
"Catatonic. Never mind, I'll explain later, but first we have to get out of here!" Rowen yelled back.  
  
"Ryo, damn it, snap out of it already," Kaye yelled as she struck the back of his head. Ryo turned his head and started at her, she could see in his eyes that they showed such emotional guilt that it was like his heart was being torn in half. Kaye staggered back a bit, and then looked at him with a slight frown. "Ryo?"  
  
"Ryo, look out!" Cye yelled as he dove for him, clearing him away from the huge boulder that was coming straight at his head.  
  
"Uncle Cye? Uncle Cye," Sian yelled out as he noticed that Cye's leg was pinned underneath.   
  
"Hey, I need some help here!"  
  
Kento and Rowen quickly ran over to the other side, and helped Sian push the boulder off of Cye's leg. Cye winced as Kento picked him up and started to carry him. Ryo finally, snapped out of his catatonic state and started to follow the others. Just as they barely made it out from underground, it finally collapsed. "Kento, put Cye down here," Sage said as he was getting ready to heal him. "Take it easy, Cye, you'll be up and around in no time."  
  
"Ryo! Hey, I'm talking to you," Kento said angrily as he glared at him. "Don't you ignore me!"  
  
"Kento, don't." Cye said as he stood up with some help from Sage.  
  
"But he..." Kento replied as he looked over towards him.  
  
"It's my fault, it's all my fault." Ryo whispered as he hung his head. Suddenly, an extreme cold gust of wind came out of nowhere, and the spirits started to blanket the sky, making the day turn to night.  
  
"What the heck is going on?" Sian yelled as he knelt down on one knee and held his head in pain with his hands.  
  
"The armors, they're disappearing!" Sage yelled back as he and the others were also now in the same position as Sian.  
  
"How can that be possible?" Sian asked as he tried to yell above the baying winds.  
  
"It's the nether spirits, they can somehow block us from getting full access to our armors."   
  
Rowen yelled back.   
  
"Isn't there any way to stop it?" Sian yelled as the pain started to intensify.  
  
"If we had the Ancient's staff, then we would have a chance. But since we don't, then there's no way that we can stop them!" Cye yelled back.   
  
Just then a group of nether spirits dive-bombed the Ronins, Kaye and Sian, covering them up completely. And then a bright light shrouded them, each of them screaming in pain, and then...silence. The nether spirits knowing that their job was done, dispersed, leaving them lying on the ground motionless with nothing but their sub armors. Slowly one by one, they've started to regain consciousness. "Is everyone ok?" Rowen asked as he saw that they were having just as a hard time standing up as he was.  
  
"I guess that it all depends." Kaye replied as she propped herself up against a fallen boulder.  
  
"Depends on what?" Sage asked as he looked over towards her.  
  
"Depends on what your definition of ok, is." Kaye replied with a small smirk.  
  
"Hey, do you guys here that?" Cye asked as he began to look around.  
  
"Hear what, uncle Cye? I don't hear anything." Sian asked back in confusion.  
  
"That's my point. No cars, no animals, no..." Cye started to say.  
  
"No...people." Kento replied as he finished what Cye was saying.  
  
"You mean that we're the only ones around? Then, where did everyone go, dad?" Sian asked as he walked over to him.  
  
"I think that I know, and I doubt that you're going to like my answer." Sage replied as he   
  
spotted the different Dynasty towers that were imbedded all over the streets of Toyama.   
  
"You mean to tell me that everyone is..?" Sian asked as he looked at the towers in shock.  
  
"Yea, it looks like the nether spirits drew all of the people inside of those towers. And as far as I can tell, that's how Talpa is keeping the merge open between the Dynasty and our world."   
  
Rowen replied as he nodded his head.  
  
"What the," Ryo said as he saw that the towers started to react to their presence. "Everyone, get away from the towers!" The other Ronins, Kaye and Sian all looked at Ryo in confusion. Why would he want them to get away from the towers? He wouldn't warn them unless he felt that something was seriously wrong. Just then a subtle crackling sound started to rise from the bottom of the towers, the sound became louder the higher it got to the top. As the sound finally hit the top, ribbons of dark energy shot out towards them and they began to solidify as they got closer and closer.   
  
"Jump!" Sage shouted, as the ribbons of dark energy were about to ensnare them.   
  
"What's going on? I can't tell if these things are trying to catch us, or if they're trying to   
  
keep us away." Kaye asked as she dodged out of the way.  
  
"Keep us away? From what?" Cye asked back as he jumped back.  
  
"Not sure, but I do know that this isn't the time or the place to discuss it." Rowen replied as he ducked.  
  
"What are you saying, Rowen, that we run? I've never ran from a fight, and I'm not about to now!" Kento said as he did a tuck and roll.   
  
"Kento, we don't have a choice here, we have to retreat. Besides, we don't have our full armors.   
  
We need to fall back so we can figure out our next move." Ryo replied as he glanced over at him.  
  
"Fine." Kento replied in annoyance. Kento knew that Ryo was right in what he said, but he still believed that they should stay and fight.   
  
"Over here!" Sian yelled as he found an escape route. The others took off to where Sian was waving for them, that were all but Kento, he still stayed there, fighting.   
  
"Wait! Where's Kento?" Kaye exclaimed as she noticed that he wasn't with them.   
  
"I don't believe it, he's still back there." Sage replied as he saw a glimpse of Kento's sub   
  
armor.  
  
"NO! Kento!" Kaye exclaimed, as she started to go back for him. 


	2. ch 2

Dying of the Light  
  
Ch 2  
  
Just as Kaye and the others were about to go back for Kento, four sand strikers stood in their path, making them come up short. "What the heck are you?" Sian asked as he glared at them.  
  
"If you must know, we're called sand strikers." the sand striker with a pair of bolas replied.  
  
"Get out of our way, or else!" Ryo said as he and the others got into fighting positions.  
  
"Or else what? You pathetic Ronins think that we'll be able to take us?" the sand striker that's holding a pair of sais replied.  
  
While the other Ronins, Kaye and Sian were about to take on the sand strikers, Kento finally got to a clearing and saw what was about to happen. "No way, I thought that I've destroyed them!" Kento thought in disbelief.  
  
"Humph, it looks like Hardrock has finally made it to the party." the sand striker with the bolas said as he caught a glimpse of Kento from the corner of his eye.  
  
"That's enough, my sand strikers." Dais ordered as he motioned for them to step to the side.  
  
"Dais, you've disrespected my family, and now I'm going to make you pay for that!" Sian said angrily as he glared at him.  
  
"You fight me, boy, that's quite amusing. If you actually think that you even stand a chance, then come and get me." Dais challenged with a laugh.  
  
"Get ready, because here I come." Sian replied as he charged after him.   
  
"Sian, come back!" Cye called out to him.   
  
"Come on, we'd better go after them." Ryo said as they were about to take off. Just then, a fog quickly rolled in blocking their view, making them suddenly stop.   
  
"The fog's too thick, I can't see a thing!" Sage replied in annoyance as he was looking around.  
  
"Sian! Sian, where are you? Answer me!" Kaye yelled out hoping for an answer from him. When there was no answer, they knew that was definitely, without a doubt, meant trouble.  
  
Not too far away...  
  
"Where did this fog come from? It wasn't here a second ago." Sian wondered in amazement as he was keeping an eye out for Dais.  
  
"What's the matter, boy, can't you see?" Dais taunted.  
  
"I don't need to see in order to fight you, Dais." Sian replied as he started to focus in on him.  
  
"Well then, let's see how good you really are." Dais challenged with a laugh. Sian had all of his attention focused only on Dais that he didn't sense that Sekhmet was getting ready to strike.  
  
"Snake fang strike!" Sekhmet yelled as he attacked Sian. Sekhmet's attack hit Sian right on target, making him kneel down. Sian then grabbed onto his side, as his breathing started to labor.  
  
"What's the matter, boy? Did you honestly expect a fair fight?" Dais asked as he and Sekhmet approached.  
  
"How...how were you able to..?" Sian started to ask.  
  
"You want to know how I was able to attack you from behind without you sensing me?" Sekhmet taunted with a grin.  
  
"Y..yes." Sian replied as he winced in pain.  
  
"I didn't hear you boy, you need to speak up." Sekhmet said with a grin.  
  
"I said, yes. I want to know." Sian replied.  
  
"Actually, it was quite easy. You had your focus totally on Dais, that you blocked out everything else. That's what made it easy for me to attack you." Sekhmet explained.   
  
"You bastard! Where's your honor?" Sian asked as the posion started to quickly run through out his body.  
  
"Honor? Who needs honor when you have power?" Sekhmet asked back with a smirk.  
  
"Sekhmet, the boy does have a point. You know better than to take all of the credit for yourself, don't you?" Dante asked as he and Jakobe joined them.  
  
"Why you...aaahhh! What have you done to me?" Sian asked as his pain increased.  
  
"It's just a little concoction that I've had lying around. I knew that the poisons that Sekhmet had wouldn't have any effect on you, so I gave him one of mine," Dante replied with a smirk. "You do remember what my particular poison does, don't you, Sian?"  
  
"When I get my hands on you..." Sian said as he was forcing his words to come out.  
  
"That'll be an interesting trick to see, considering that you only have a few days before you feel the full effect of it, and then the real pain begins," Dante replied with a gleam of mischief in his eyes. "You already know that there is a cure for this poison, but if you want it, then you have to pay a price."  
  
Sian's eyes grew wide, and then they shifted to angry slits, "I know what you want me to do, and I won't do it." Sian shot back.  
  
"Even knowing it'll cost you your own life," Dante asked as he raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you prepared to sacrifice your own life, for theirs?"  
  
"Yes." Sian replied as he struggled to keep consciousness.  
  
"I'm not sure if I would call sacrificing your own life noble, or just being a fool," Dante asked as he and the others watched Sian fall to the ground. "A fool."  
  
"Dante, the fog is starting to lift, I think that this would be an opportune time to take our leave." Jakobe said as he was looking around.  
  
"Yes, you're right, of course." Dante replied as he kept his eyes on Sian.  
  
"Do you think that the boy will make his decision, and pay the price for the antidote?" Jakobe asked.  
  
"When someone is facing death, Jakobe, a person will do just about anything to save their own life. Even if it means taking another." Dante replied with a cruel smile as the four of them disappeared leaving Sian lying on the ground unconscious.   
  
About twenty minutes later...  
  
"OOh, what happened," Sian said quietly as he was slowly starting to come around. "I remember now. Dante, you're going to pay for this, I swear it."  
  
Sian was finally to his feet, he looked around trying to figure out where he was. The layout of the past Toyama wasn't that much different than the future Toyama, so he was able to get around without being totally lost. He then started out to look for the others. While he was searching, Sian began to wonder if he should tell them about what just happened. Should he tell them about Dante poisoning him? At that instant, Sian made up his mind that he wouldn't tell them just yet, he would have to figure out another way to get the antidote. But Sian did know that they would figure it out sooner or later, by then he might come up with another solution.   
  
Just around the corner...  
  
"Where are they? If Dais harmed Sian in any way, I'll..." Kento said as anger started to rise.  
  
"Take it easy, Kento, I'm sure that Sian is all right. Don't worry, we'll find him, he is your kid after all." Rowen replied with a smirk.  
  
"Uncle Rowen, I know that you didn't call me a kid just now." Sian said as he suddenly showed up out of nowhere.  
  
"Sian!" Kaye exclaimed as she rushed over and hugged him.  
  
"Mom!" Sian replied as he hugged her back.  
  
"Are you all right?" Kaye asked as they pulled apart.  
  
"Besides having a few cuts and scrapes, nothing major." Sian replied with a small smile.  
  
"Good, then that means I can do this." Kaye said as she hit the back of Sian's head.   
  
Sian looked at her in confusion, "ow, what was that for?" Sian asked with a small frown as he rubbed the back of his head.  
  
"You stand there rubbing your head, and looking at me with those big, blue-gray eyes, asking me why I hit you? Think about it, Sian." Kaye replied as she looked at him sternly.  
  
"Oh, yea, sorry about that. I didn't mean to worry you, but what Dais did, I just couldn't let him get away with it." Sian said as he looked towards her.  
  
"Sian, if you would have waited for us, we would have been fighting with you." Cye said as he looked at him.  
  
"Yea, again, I'm sorry." Sian replied.  
  
"But just out of curiosity, Sian, how did the fight with Dais go?" Kento asked.  
  
"Are you kidding, dad, I made him run back to Talpa with his tail between his legs." Sian replied with a smirk.  
  
"That's my boy!" Kento said with a grin.   
  
"Like father, like son." Kaye said as she shook her head.  
  
"Huh, Kaye, what's that suppose to mean?" Kento asked as he shot her a confused look.  
  
Before anyone could respond to his question, "Ronin Warriors." Talpa said as his image appeared in the sky.   
  
"Talpa," Ryo replied angrily as they got into defensive positions. "Why did you allow the Dynasty and our world to merge?"  
  
"Don't you mean, why did you allow it, Wildfire? Calling upon the Inferno like that." Talpa taunted with a laugh.  
  
"Back off, Talpa! There was no way that any of us could have known that would of happened!" Sage shot back angrily.  
  
"It doesn't matter if any of you could know or not, what's done is done, the two are now one. And it will stay this way, unless of course you can prevent the dying of the light." Talpa replied.  
  
"What do you mean by dying of the light?" Cye asked.  
  
"You'll have to figure that out for yourselves. I would suggest, however, that you hurry. Because if you don't, then the two will remain as one, for eternity." Talpa replied as his image disappeared. 


	3. ch 3

Dying of the Light  
  
Ch 3  
  
"Talpa, you coward! Come back and fight!" Sage yelled out angrily.  
  
"Unfortunately, master Talpa is busy at the moment, but will we do?" a sand striker asked as they cut off their escape route.  
  
"Oh man, not these guys again?" Sian replied in annoyance, as he and the others got into defensive positions.  
  
"It looks like the only way out of here is through them." Ryo said as he took a quick look around.  
  
"Humph, seven against four, seems kinda unfair odds, doesn't it?" Kento asked with light amusement.  
  
"We'll see who's laughing when this fight is over, Hardrock." a sand striker replied as they were starting to come at them.  
  
"If I had my armor, then I could just blow them away." Kento said as he jumped up to avoid getting tangled in the bolas.  
  
"I know what you mean, Kento, it looks like we're going to have to do this the hard way." Rowen replied as he did a jump kick towards one of the sand strikers. Rowen sent the sand striker flying back a few feet until it crashed into one of the metal support beams, making it disintegrate into nothing but sand.   
  
"You think it's that easy to destroy us? Think again." the sand striker said as it started to reform itself.   
  
In Talpa's throne room...  
  
"We should be out there fighting, not them." Anubis said in a huff as he and the other warlords were watching the fight.  
  
"Are you jealous, Anubis?" Dais asked with a smirk.  
  
"There's no reason for me to be jealous, Dais. But I'm willing to bet that your sand strikers will fail, and then those blasted Ronins will get away." Anubis replied as he turned to face him.  
  
"Don't make the mistake of underestimating my sand strikers, Anubis. They'll get the job done." Dais warned as he glared at him.  
  
"Dais, call back your sand strikers!" Talpa ordered.  
  
"Master Talpa, what's the meaning of this?" Dais asked as he suddenly turned to face him.  
  
"Don't question me, just do it!" Talpa replied as his eyes glowed red.  
  
"Yes my lord." Dais said as he bowed.  
  
Back on the streets of Toyama...  
  
"These guys just keep coming," Cye said as he kicked a sand striker, making it spin as it flew through the air. "We can't keep this up for long."  
  
"Keep fighting, they're blocking our only exit. Besides, the only way to escape is through them." Ryo replied as he blocked an attack that was coming towards his head.  
  
Suddenly, "sand strikers, return to the throne room." Dais said as his voice boomed overhead.  
  
"But lord Dais, what about the Ronins?" one of the sand strikers asked in confusion.  
  
"Do as your told, and return to the throne room at once!" Dais replied angrily.  
  
"Yes, lord Dais, whatever you say." the other sand striker said as all four of them disappeared.  
  
"Ok, now is it only me, or was that just more than a little too weird?" Kaye asked in confusion.  
  
"I don't think that weird is the best word to describe it." Sage replied as he started to feel a little uneasy about the situation.  
  
"I think that we better get going. I don't want to stand around here and wait to see what Talpa is going to do next." Rowen suggested.  
  
"Good idea, Rowen, let's get going." Ryo replied as he led them out of the city.   
  
As they ran, Sian started to wince from the pain of Dante's poison. He knew that with each passing minute that the pain would intensify until the person that was infected would wish that they were already dead. Sian seen what Dante's poison did to people in his own time. He saw people even with the strongest of will, do the most unthinkable to people that they cared about. Their minds no longer theirs, they became heartless, wild beasts with no will of their own. Everything and everyone that they once knew erased with the snap of the fingers. And then when they thought that the worst has happened, something much worse takes place. Sian shook his head, trying to get the images out, at a side-glance; Sage noticed that something was definitely wrong with him. Sage decided that now wouldn't be a really good time to confront him about it.  
  
"Over there, that's where we can take refuge." Rowen said as they were coming close to a small house that had a lake in the back of it. As they were getting closer to it, they started to slow down and take a look around to make sure that there weren't any Dynasty "surprises" waiting for them.   
  
"Looks like no one's around. Let's get inside before any Dynasty soldiers see us." Cye replied as they headed in.  
  
"I think that it'll be a good idea to try and get some rest. I have a feeling that we're going to need it." Ryo said as he looked around the room. They were all hesitant about Ryo's suggestion, but then they knew that he was right. They did need to get as much rest as possible, because they wouldn't know when the next time that they'll get the chance.  
  
A few hours later...  
  
A sudden sound of footsteps made the wearer of the Halo armor quickly open his eyes. Sage staying where he was scanned the room. He could see that everyone was still sleeping, or so he thought, but then when he was about to go back to sleep, the sound came back. This time Sage quietly got up and carefully walked around, trying not to wake the others. Sage knew that he could handle whoever it was without waking the others. Again, the sounds of footsteps made Sage quickly turn his attention to somewhere in the back room. He started to sneak his way there, as he got closer, he could see that someone was actually moving around in there. Just as Sage was going to attack the intruder, the person quickly turned around, and as he did, he almost dropped the candle that he was holding. "Sage?" Ryo asked as he quickly caught the candle.  
  
"Ryo? What are you doing up?" Sage asked as they both finally relaxed.  
  
"I couldn't sleep. Why are you up?" Ryo asked back.  
  
"I heard someone walking around, and I decided to see who it was." Sage replied.  
  
"Sorry about that." Ryo said as he sat down.  
  
"Ryo, what's on your mind? You're still not thinking that it's your fault that the merge between the Dynasty and our world, are you," Sage asked as he crossed his arms and leaned against the mantle. "You are, Ryo, it's not your fault. Why can't you see that?"  
  
"Sage, it is my fault. If I didn't use the Inferno, then none of this would of happened, and we would still have our full armors." Ryo replied.  
  
"That's crazy talk, and you know it, Ryo. It's like I said before, no one could have known that would have happened." Sage replied as he started at him.  
  
"I'm supposed to be the leader. I'm supposed to protect everyone, I'm suppose to make sure that everything is safe. I'm suppose to..." Ryo said as he clenched his fists.  
  
"Then start acting like a leader, Ryo. But don't do it by blaming yourself for everything that goes wrong. You have to have faith that the rest of us will know what to do when the time comes." Sage replied as he was trying to reason with him.  
  
"Sage..." Ryo started to say as he looked up at him.  
  
"Yea?" Sage asked as he looked back.  
  
"Thanks, I guess that I just needed to hear someone say that." Ryo replied with a small smile.  
  
"Well, I guess that someone had to set you straight." Sage said as he returned a small smile of his own.  
  
"I think that I'm going to get some sleep," Ryo replied as he headed back to where he was sleeping. "Sage, aren't you going back to sleep?"  
  
"Yea, in a minute. Night, Ryo." Sage said as he looked out the window.  
  
"Night, Sage." Ryo replied as he looked at him in confusion before he went back to sleep.   
  
As Sage stared out the window, he began to wonder if he should of told Ryo about Sian. How he noticed that Sian seemed to be in some kind of pain, and that he was hiding it from everyone else. What really happened with the fight between him and Dais? What was Sian not telling them? After a few minutes of thinking, Sage decided not to tell everyone just yet, he wanted to wait until Sian would tell them himself, and if he didn't, should he confront him on it? Sage gave a heavy sigh, as he shook his head, he knew that it was useless to try and figure anything out unless he got some sleep. So then he finally gave one last look outside of the window and decided to finally turn in for the night. If Sage stared a bit longer out the window, he would of noticed that Cale and the other warlords were outside watching them this whole time.  
  
"I don't see why we don't attack them now. They are completely unaware of our presence." Sekhmet asked as he was starting to get impatient.  
  
"No, master Talpa said to wait." Anubis replied as they continued to watch the small house.  
  
"What exactly are we waiting for, Anubis?" Cale asked as he glanced over at him.  
  
"Master Talpa didn't say, all he said was to wait and watch, and then we'll attack when the time is right. Besides, they can't exactly do much damage when they are only in their sub armors." Anubis replied with a cruel smile.  
  
"what about Dante and Jakobe?" Dais asked.  
  
"What about them?" Anubis asked back.  
  
"Why aren't they here with us, keeping an eye on them as well?" Dais asked.  
  
"Master Talpa didn't say, but he wanted them to stay behind. He said that he had special plans for them." Anubis replied.  
  
"But what if they don't do what master Talpa says, what if they have plans of their own?" Cale asked.  
  
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. It's time for us to return to master Talpa." Anubis replied as he and the other warlords vanished from where they were standing. 


	4. ch 4

Dying of the Light  
  
Ch 4  
  
In Sian's dream...  
  
Sian stood on a grassy hill, there was a gentle breeze stirring in the air. He could hear   
  
laughter coming from just over the next hill. Sian was to say the least, curious, and decided to see where the laughing would lead him. When he got to his destination, Sian saw that his parents and his uncles seemed to be laughing at the sight of a teenager and who seemed to be his father.   
  
Sian became even more curious and started to get closer without being seen. When Sian got there, he could finally get a better look at them. He couldn't believe what he saw; the two people that were laughing the hardest were he and his father. Needless to say, Sian was a bit confused.   
  
"How can this be? How can I be at two places at once? How can this be possible? But I know that this is real, because I remember, I remember this day," Sian thought as he watched them. Then suddenly the sky turned pitch black, and the winds blew so fierce that the branches broke right off of the trees. "No! Run, get out of there! Run!" Just as Sian was about to run to them, in a blink of an eye, everything changed. Now there were no sounds, just quiet, dead quiet. Sian started to get more than a little nervous as he looked around his surroundings.   
  
"Where is everyone? No, they can't be!" Sian exclaimed as he started to run. As Sian kept running, his anxiety started to rise. He knew that he had to find them, and then as soon as he was turning the next corner, he saw something that he would never think that he would ever dream for it to be possible. But it was, just plain as day, he saw that his family fighting the hunters, barely holding onto their own. Severely wounded, they kept on fighting until the very last of them were gone. But they knew that they were only fighting on borrowed time.   
  
"Get out of there!" Sian yelled at them, but they kept on fighting as if they didn't hear him.   
  
Both group of fighters, hunters and his family continued to fight. Neither side giving in, then as he stood there helplessly watching the blood bath, Sian saw that someone was coming up from behind his parents. Sian's heart leapt in his throat as he tried to yell out to warn them, but no sound came. He then started to run towards them; maybe he could get to them in time. But then just as he got there, two swords raised overhead, and started to come down upon his parents. Just as the swords were about to strike, the scene changed again.   
  
"Mom, dad?" Sian called out as he now found himself in a dimly lit corridor. Sian started to carefully walk through the corridor, but then sounds of battle suddenly got his attention. He started to run towards the sounds, as he kept on getting closer the sounds of battle were getting even louder. Then just as he got to where the sounds were coming from, a bright light blinded him just for a few seconds. Then as the light faded, Sian lowered his arms, he could barely make out who was fighting whom. Everything was still too blurry. As Sian's vision started to slowly come back into focus, he recognized the screams of pain. Sian quickly darted his eyes over to where the sounds were coming from. But just as he was about to see, he found himself hovering over who might have looked like his parents. Sian started to walk slowly over to them, with each step his pace quickened until he found himself running. When he got close enough he could tell that his uncles were kneeling down in front of them, protecting the two from their attacker, their breathing laboring from their battle. But as soon as Sian got there, he could see that both of them were barely breathing, and then Sian saw one more thing that really threw him. Sian saw that he was the one that did this; he was the one that almost killed his parents. The Sian that he saw was no longer human, but a hunter. The poison has turned him into a soulless, blood-craving hunter.   
  
"NO," Sian yelled as he shot up from where he was sleeping. "Was that real? Did it actually happen, or is it some kind of twisted vision of what might happen?"  
  
Sian got up quickly and looked around, no one was there. He began to panic, Sian then started to check all of the rooms, looking for a sign of any kind telling him that his family was still alive. Just as he was about to call out, he heard voices coming from outside. Sian then ran to where they were coming from, and he saw that everyone was out back by the lake. "Hey, look who's finally decided to get up?" Rowen said with a smirk, as he noticed that Sian was walking over to them.  
  
"It was only a nightmare." Sian replied with a sigh of relief. The others gave Sian a look of confusion; Sian then saw their confused looks and then grinned at them.  
  
"Sian, are you ok?" Ryo asked as Sian finally joined them.  
  
"Yea, uncle Ryo, I'm fine." Sian replied as he knelt down and plunged his hands into the water and splashed it onto his face.  
  
"What did you mean by, it's only a nightmare?" Kento asked as he raised an eyebrow at him.  
  
"It's nothing, dad, everything is fine." Sian replied, as he stayed knelt down by the water.  
  
"Sian, you know, if you want to, I could..." Kaye started to say.  
  
"Ah mom, no that's ok, I'm fine." Sian replied as he quickly stood up. The Ronins and Kaye looked at each other in confusion. They knew that something was definitely wrong.   
  
"Sian, are you sure that you're..." Cye started to ask.  
  
"I said that I'm fine, uncle Cye. Now will everyone please stop asking me if I'm ok?" Sian asked back showing a little annoyance.  
  
"What's gotten into you, Sian?" Kaye asked as she and the others looked at him.  
  
"What do you mean? Nothing's gotten into me." Sian replied.  
  
"Then why are you acting like this? It's not like you." Kaye said.  
  
"Acting like what, mom?" Sian asked as he looked at her curiously.  
  
"You're starting to distance yourself from us, why?" Kaye asked back.  
  
"Look, I'm not distancing myself from any of you. I'm just, actually I don't know why I'm telling you any of this. I don't have to justify myself to you or anyone else for that matter. So just get off of my back, ok." Sian replied hotly. Sian's statement registered in Kaye's eyes, a mix reaction of hurt and confusion.   
  
"Why you little..." Kento started to say angrily. He would of continued what he was going to say, but Kaye looked at him and shook her head.  
  
"Kento, I'm sure that Sian has his own reasons for feeling the way he does. Just let him be, when he's ready, he'll tell us what's going on." Kaye replied as she quickly got her composure.  
  
"Count yourself lucky this time, Sian, because the next time that you decide to cop an attitude like that, you and I will have words. Do I make myself clear?" Kento asked as he narrowed his eyes into angry slits. Sian nodded his head, and then he went back inside.  
  
"Don't you think that you were a little hard on him, Kento?" Cye asked as he looked over at him.  
  
"Cye, what are you talking about? He had no right to talk to Kaye like that. Besides having to deal with Talpa, Dante and Jakobe, not to mention the warlords, we don't need to have Sian to start copping an attitude." Kento replied.  
  
Inside the small house...  
  
"They're right, this isn't me, it's the poison. The process is starting, I can't be around them when I turn into a hunter." Sian thought as his breathing started to labor. As Sage started to come inside, he saw that Sian was doubled over in pain, holding onto his stomach.  
  
"Sian," Sage exclaimed as he saw him on the floor, then he rushed over to the door. "Hey someone get in here, there's something wrong with Sian!"  
  
That's all that was needed for the others to run inside and see that Sian was lying on the floor in extreme pain. "Sage, what happened?" Kento asked in concern as any trace of his anger that he once had disappeared.  
  
"I don't know, when I came inside, I found him like this," Sage replied as he grabbed for Sian's arms. "Help me get him to the bed."  
  
Then when they knew that Sian was lying somewhat comfortable in the bed, Kaye ran out to the lake and returned with a full bucket of water. She then took a piece of cloth, soaked it, and started to cool Sian off with it. "When I get my hands on Dais..." Kento said as he clenched his fists.  
  
"It wasn't Dais." Sian said with a groan.   
  
"Sian, what are you talking about? If it wasn't Dais, then who was it?" Rowen asked.  
  
"It was Dante." Sian replied as he groaned again.  
  
"Did I hear someone call my name?" Dante asked with a smirk as he and Jakobe stood by the opened door. 


	5. ch 5

Dying of the Light  
  
Ch 5  
  
"What did you do to Sian!?" Kento asked as his anger hit the roof.  
  
"All I did was inject him with a special type of poison of mine. The effects are quite different from what your poisons can do. You see with mine, the person injected is in extreme pain for a few days, and then they start to lose themselves, literally. They start to lose all aspects of their humanity, and become what you see before you, a soulless, blood-thirsty hunter like me." Dante replied with an evil smile.  
  
"You bastard!" Kento yelled angrily as he charged at Dante, pinning him against the wall.  
  
Dante just smirked at him, "now that's the third time I've been called that since we've came here. You know, I'll only allow so much before I start to retaliate." Dante replied as he stared at Kento straight in his eyes.  
  
"What the? Oh no," Ryo said as he sensed that Dante was about to do something. "Kento, get away from there!" Just as Kento gave a quick glance towards Ryo, that was all of the time that Dante needed. With the flick of his wrist, Dante made Kento fly across the room, and into the wall.  
  
"Kento!" Kaye yelled as she bolted from Sian's side and knelt down next to him.  
  
"Dante, you'll pay for that!" Cye yelled at him as he charged him. While Ryo and Sage went to back up Cye, Rowen stayed close to Sian. Something didn't quite seem right to him, Rowen looked around the room. He saw that Kaye was helping Kento to stand, then the others were fighting   
  
Dante and Jakobe, while Sian was lying behind him.   
  
"This doesn't make any sense. How did they find us? There was no way that they could track us, unless..." Rowen thought as he looked down at Sian.   
  
"Rowen, what's wrong," Kento asked as he and Kaye made their way to them. "Come on man, snap out of it!"  
  
"Rowen, Kento, if you two aren't busy, we could use some help over here." Ryo said as he took a quick look back at them.  
  
"We're coming, Ryo," Kento replied. "Kaye, you'll be ok watching over Sian?"  
  
"Yea, I'll be fine, go on, the others need you." Kaye replied with a nod.  
  
"Kento, I don't think that we should have left Kaye with Sian." Rowen said as he and Kento started to fight with the others.  
  
"What? Rowen, what are you talking about?" Kento asked as he stole a glance at him.  
  
"I hate to say it, but don't you think that it's rather odd that those two knew exactly where we were?" Rowen asked as he dodged Jakobe's kick.  
  
"What are you saying, Rowen, are you saying that they tracked us here somehow?" Sage asked as he jumped back.  
  
"That's exactly what I'm saying." Rowen replied as he kept his eyes on Dante.  
  
"But how could they?" Cye asked.  
  
"I think that Mr. Hashiba knows exactly how we tracked you, or at least a suspicion. Am I right," Dante asked as he looked over at him. "Sian, my boy, I think that it's time for you to wake up."  
  
As soon as Dante said that, Sian's eyes snapped open and he started to stand. "Sian? Oh no." Kaye said as she saw that Sian's eyes showed no sign of him having his own will any more, that he was under Dante's control.   
  
"You see, gentlemen, when Sian was busy fighting Dais. I had Sekhmet use my poison to infect him, and as soon as Sian became infected, his will became mine." Dante said with an evil grin.  
  
"The pain that Sian was feeling was when he's trying to fight off Dante's poison. If he just let it take him over like it did me, then he wouldn't have caused himself so much pain." Jakobe replied with a smirk.  
  
"Then that means, if you control Sian's will, then you also control his mind." Sage said with realization.  
  
"It took you long enough to figure that out. Even though the process hasn't totally taken effect as of yet, It's going to take a little longer to get total control over him." Dante replied.  
  
"You're lying! There's no way that you could take over Sian that easily!" Ryo shot back.  
  
"I see that a demonstration is in order," Dante replied. "Sian, if you would?"  
  
Sian gave a cruel grin as he set his gaze on Kaye. "Sian, What are you doing?" Kaye asked as she started to back away. Kaye could tell that her words were not getting through to him, because he kept on advancing towards her. Then the next thing that they knew Sian was grabbing onto Kaye's throat, lifting her off the ground, and slamming her into the wall.   
  
"Kaye," Kento exclaimed wide eyed. "Sian let her go!"  
  
"Don't waste your breath, he can't hear you." Dante said with a laugh.  
  
"Then you tell him to let her go!" Ryo replied angrily as he and the others started to advance towards him and Jakobe.  
  
"You're in no position to be telling me what to do. If any of you take another step closer, I'll have Sian crush her windpipe." Dante threatened.  
  
"And you know that he'll do it too." Jakobe replied with a smirk.  
  
"Sian, I know that you're still in there somewhere, fight him, please." Kaye whispered as she looked into his eyes.  
  
"Mom," Sian said, as he was himself for a split second. That split second was all that Kaye needed to quickly bring her knees up and kick Sian right in his stomach, making him stagger back, dropping her to the floor. "I almost...no, get out of my head! Get out of my head!"  
  
"Sian, if you want the antidote, then do what you came here to do in the first place!" Dante ordered as he was trying to get back control of Sian's mind.  
  
"NO!" Sian yelled, as he looked around frantically for an escape route.   
  
"Sian, calm down, let us help you." Cye said as he started to carefully approach him.  
  
"Stay away! You can't help me, no one can help me!" Sian replied as he saw a window and jumped through it.  
  
"Sian, come back!" Rowen yelled out to him.  
  
"Damn it! Why do you pesky Ronins always have to ruin everything!?" Jakobe asked angrily as he and Dante disappeared.  
  
"Kaye, are you all right," Cye asked as he helped her up. "Kaye?"  
  
"Huh, yea Cye, I'm all right." Kaye replied as she glanced over to the broken window.  
  
"Don't worry Kaye, we'll get Sian back, and we'll make Dante pay for what he did." Kento said as he tried to sound reassuring, not only for her but for his sake as well.  
  
"Yea, I know we will." Kaye replied with a determined look.  
  
"If those two know where we are, then that means Talpa and the warlords know where we are too. So I suggest that we get a move on, before we get any more uninvited guests." Ryo said as he led the others outside.  
  
"Where are we supposed to go, Ryo? With the merging of the Dynasty and our world, there's no place that we can go without them knowing where we are." Rowen replied as they were running nowhere in particular.  
  
"Then that leaves us the only place that Talpa wouldn't think of looking." Ryo replied.  
  
"Ryo, I hope that you don't mean..?" Cye started to ask.  
  
"Yea Cye, I do, Talpa's castle." Ryo replied as they kept running.  
  
"What about Sian? He's all alone somewhere out there. We just can't leave him?" Kaye asked in concern.  
  
"Don't worry Kaye, I have a feeling that he'll show up at Talpa's castle. I think that he's going to try and get the antidote from Dante himself." Ryo replied as they were getting close to the city limits.  
  
"Ok then, I have a question, what are we going to do about those towers? It seems that whenever we get close to them, they're activated," Sage asked as they were now standing by the city limits sign. "I mean, it would be easier if we had our full armors, but those nether spirits are still somehow blocking our access to them."  
  
In Talpa's throne room...  
  
"Dante, what happened? I thought that you said you had complete control over the boy?" Sekhmet asked as he raised an eyebrow at him.  
  
"I didn't realize that the boy had such a strong will. But don't you worry about it, Sekhmet, he'll be under my complete control soon enough." Dante replied with a smirk.  
  
"For your sake, you had better hope so. Because Talpa does not tolerate failure." Cale said.  
  
"I'm guessing that you're telling me this, Cale, out of personal experience?" Dante taunted as he glanced over at him.  
  
"If I were you, Dante, I would be careful on how you speak. Remember, you two are guests here, just as long as Talpa can tolerate you that is. But if either of you step out of line, then we'll be more than happy to put you back in your place." Dais warned as he glared at them.  
  
"Why wait until later? What do you say that we fight now?" Jakobe asked as he and Dante got into a fighting position.  
  
"If it's a quick death that you're looking for, then we'll be more than happy to give it to you." Anubis replied as he and the other warlords also got ready to fight.  
  
"That's enough!" Talpa said as he appeared out of nowhere.  
  
"Master Talpa." Cale greeted.  
  
"What's the meaning of this, disturbance?" Talpa asked.  
  
"It seems that Dante's claim of having complete control over the boy has somehow back fired on him." Anubis replied with a smirk.  
  
"I assume, Dante, that you know that I don't tolerate failure." Talpa said as he looked towards him and Jakobe.  
  
"Of course, Talpa, I'm aware of the circumstances." Dante replied.  
  
"Unfortunately, I don't have time for your pointless squabbling. Warlords, I want you to inform the soldiers to start searching for the Ronins. Do whatever it takes to get them here. Dais." Talpa said as he looked towards him.  
  
"Yes master Talpa." Dais replied as he bowed.  
  
"I want you to send out your sand strikers as well. But tell them to stay close to the castle." Talpa ordered.  
  
"Of course." Dais replied as he disappeared to look for them.  
  
"And the rest of you, go and make sure that everything is ready for their arrival." Talpa said.  
  
"As you wish, master Talpa." Cale replied as the rest of the warlords disappeared.  
  
"As for the two of you." Talpa said as he directed his attention towards Dante and Jakobe.  
  
"You want us to go and look for the boy. Am I correct, Talpa?" Dante asked.  
  
"You're correct, find the boy, and bring him here to me." Talpa replied as he sent them off.  
  
As Dante and Jakobe were walking down the dimly lit corridor, "Jakobe, you've been pretty quiet. What's on your mind?" Dante asked.  
  
"I've been trying to ponder something." Jakobe replied as they continued to walk.  
  
"Yes?" Dante asked as he stole a glance towards him.  
  
"I was wondering, why are we..?" Jakobe started to ask.  
  
"Why are we taking orders from Talpa?" Dante asked back.  
  
"That's exactly what I'm asking." Jakobe replied.  
  
"We're not, we're just playing him along. Besides, he'll keep the Ronins busy while we conduct our own affair." Dante said with a grin. 


	6. ch 6

Dying of the Light  
  
Ch 6  
  
"I can't believe that I almost...the transformation is happening too fast. I don't have any control over what I do, before I know it, I won't be human any more, I'll be a hunter. No, I can't let that happen, I have to fight this. But that means I'll have to go and find Dante. No doubt, he'll be at Talpa's castle, probably waiting for me, or he and Jakobe could be out here somewhere looking for me as well. Looks like you've made up your mind, haven't you, Sian. I better get a move on if I'm going to find Dante, and force him to give me the antidote. But what if he doesn't give it to me, then what? I guess that I'll cross that bridge when I come to it." Sian thought as he started off towards Talpa's castle.   
  
"Dante, I don't understand why we don't just attack the boy now. I mean, he's right down there." Jakobe said in confusion as he and Dante watched Sian from a hidden location.  
  
"Jakobe, Sian's a lot stronger than he looks. That's why it's taking so long for the transformation to occur." Dante replied.  
  
"Yea ok, but he doesn't have access to his armor, so then he won't be that much of a problem, or is there something that you're neglecting to tell me?" Jakobe asked as he stole a glance towards him.  
  
"I'm not telling you anything that you don't already know, Jakobe, it's just that Sian is different from the other armor bearers that we've turned from before." Dante replied.  
  
"Different, how?" Jakobe asked.  
  
"That part, I'm not totally sure about. But enough of this conversation, we need to get a move on before Sian beats us back to Talpa's castle." Dante replied as they quickly followed Sian's trail.  
  
"Humph, it looks like that I have company." Sian thought as he barely sensed that Dante and Jakobe behind him. Sian kept going a little farther because he knew that there was a small river bed near by. Just as Dante and Jakobe were about to catch up to him, Sian disappeared.  
  
"How did he?" Jakobe asked being somewhat startled.  
  
"You know, there's something said about someone having control over one's mind." Sian said as he suddenly appeared behind them.  
  
"Oh yea, and what's that?" Jakobe asked as he and Dante quickly turned around.  
  
"You can figure out pretty quickly on how one thinks." Sian replied with a smirk.  
  
"Alright boy, you think that you have us at a disadvantage, so now what are you planning to do next?" Dante asked.  
  
"I'm going to make you hand over the antidote." Sian replied as he kept his eyes on them.  
  
"Oh really? And what if I decide not to give you the antidote, what then, are you going to try and force me to give it to you," Dante asked. "You know that it'll only be a short amount of time before I have complete control of your mind again."  
  
"Then I guess that we had better stop talking, and get to business. Now if you would hand over the antidote, then I'll think about being merciful when I start kicking both of your butts." Sian replied as he got ready for a fight.  
  
"You know what they say about mercy, don't you boy," Dante asked as he raised an eyebrow at him. "They say that mercy is for the weak."  
  
"I thought that you would say something like that." Sian replied as he was waiting for them to attack.   
  
Back at the city limits...  
  
"What's it going to be, Ryo, are we going in or what?" Rowen asked as he looked towards him.  
  
Ryo kept his gaze focused on what was in front of him. He was pretty sure that he wasn't the only one that knew they were against some pretty high odds right now. With only being in their sub armors, it'll be a lot harder to be able to fight the warlords, and Talpa. And then there were the towers to keep in consideration, if they got close to any of them, then they would run the chance of being pulled in.   
  
"Come on you guys, we can't stand here all day, we have to do something. Ryo," Kento said as he frowned at him. "I don't know about you, but I'm not waiting around any longer, I'm going in rather like it or not."   
  
"Kento, use your head, you can't go in there alone. Besides, we don't have our full armors yet." Sage replied as he grabbed his arm to prevent him from going.  
  
"Sage, I don't care. Sian could be in there, and I'm going to get him out no matter what it takes." Kento replied as he pulled his arm out of Sage's grip.  
  
"We don't even know if Sian is in there, Kento, what if he isn't, you'll be trapped inside of Talpa's castle, then what?" Sage shot back.  
  
"What if he is Sage? Look, I know that you're concerned, and you don't think that I'm using my head, but maybe you're right and Sian isn't in there. Then that'll give me a chance to kick Talpa's sorry butt. Either way, I have to find out if he's in there or not. I was hoping that you would understand that." Kento replied as he was starting to get that same look of determination in his eyes that Kaye always has when she has her mind set to do something.  
  
"And besides, Sage, Kento's not going in alone, I'm going as well." Kaye said as she finally spoke up.  
  
"Don't you two realize that's probably what they want you to do?" Sage asked as he looked over at her.  
  
"Yea we do, but you have to realize something, Sage, Sian's our son. Admit it, any of you would do the same thing if your child was in the same situation," Kaye replied with that determined look in her eyes. "I don't care who they are, no one and I mean no one messes with family."  
  
"You two convinced me, I'm coming too." Cye said as he walked up next to them.  
  
"Are you sure about that Cye?" Kento asked as he gave him a curious look.  
  
"Yea Kento, besides, Kaye's right, no one messes with family," Cye replied with a smirk. "So then what are we still waiting around here for, let's go and get Sian back."  
  
"Ryo, will you tell them that there's another way to go about this? Ryo?" Sage asked as he looked towards him.  
  
"Sage, remember what you told me last night when I was doubting myself for being leader?" Ryo asked as he turned around to face him.  
  
"Yea, what about it?" Sage asked back.  
  
"You told me that in order to be a leader, that I need to have faith that the others will know what to do when the time comes. And I believe that they're right, don't you?" Ryo asked.  
  
"Humph, I guess that you did actually listen to me, for once." Sage replied with a smirk.  
  
"I guess that it's decided, so then what are we standing around here for? Let's find Sian and then teach Talpa a lesson that he won't soon forget!" Rowen said with a smirk.  
  
In Toyama...  
  
You know that if these towers are activated by the Ronins' presence, then this will end a lot quicker than I want it to." Sekhmet said as he crossed his arms.  
  
"Master Talpa has already taken care of that, Sekhmet." Dais replied with a smirk.  
  
"Be quiet you two, they're coming, get ready." Anubis said as he spotted them sneaking into the city.  
  
"I don't like this, something isn't right, the towers are not even reacting to us. Why?" Sage asked as he was starting to get a little edgy.  
  
"We'll be more than happy to answer your question, Halo." Cale said as he and the other warlords came out from hiding.  
  
"Ambush!" Rowen yelled as he and the others got into defensive positions.  
  
"We don't have time to deal with you, so get out of our way!" Kento said as he glared at them.  
  
"Make time!" Dais shot back as he started back at Kento.  
  
"Without your armors, you're powerless to stop us." Anubis said as he whirled his sickle.  
  
"Do you Ronins actually think that you even stand a chance against us?" Sekhmet asked with a hint of humor.  
  
"Why don't you fight us and find out?" Ryo shot back as he lead the charge against the warlords.  
  
While the fight between the Ronins and the warlords was going on, Sian had his hands full with Dante and Jakobe. "Come boy, do you honestly believe that you'll be able to stand up against us for long?" Jakobe asked as he did a jump kick towards Sian.  
  
"I'll fight the two of you until my last breath." Sian replied as he back flipped out of the way.  
  
"That can be easily arranged!" Jakobe said as he did a double kick in the air, and then brought his hands above his head to deliver a double fisted blow to the top of Sian's head.  
  
Sian took a couple steps back, and then he jumped over Jakobe's head, As soon as he landed, he turned around and delivered a few punches of his own. "You know what, Jakobe, if you think that you'll be able to get close enough to even touch me, then you have to be quicker than that, old man," Sian replied with a smirk. "And another thing, stop calling me boy, it's starting to get old."   
  
"Dante, what are you doing just standing there? I could use some help." Jakobe asked as he quickly threw him a glance.  
  
"It looked like to me that you were handling yourself just fine. But if you really want me to help, then all you had to do was ask," Dante replied. "And here I thought that you would be able to handle him. Well, it looks like I'm going to have to do this myself."  
  
"Let's see what you got." Sian challenged as he stared down Dante.  
  
"I'm not the type to get my hands dirty, but I guess that once in a while it doesn't hurt to remind you of your place." Dante replied as he charged straight ahead at Sian. Just as Sian was about to block Dante's on coming attack, Dante did a quick zig-zag, and then just as Sian was changing positions, Dante jumped behind Sian and back fisted him right square in the head. Sian, staggered back a bit, he then he felt something warm flowing down. Sian wiped his face with the back of his hand, and when he glanced at it, he saw that his blood was smeared on the back of it.  
  
"How?" Sian said in disbelief as he started at Dante.  
  
"Oh it looks like I forgot to tell you something." Dante replied with a smirk.  
  
"Yea, and what's that?" Sian asked as he glared at him.  
  
"When I fight, I don't fight fair. I've never fought a fair fight in my life." Dante replied as he threw his small blade that he had hidden somewhere up his sleeve.  
  
"I've noticed." Sian replied in annoyance.  
  
Back in Toyama...  
  
"Web of deception!" Dais yelled as he delivered his sure kill.  
  
"Watch it!" Ryo warned as he and the others jumped back from Dais's attack.  
  
"Dais, remember the plan." Anubis said as he threw him a quick glance.  
  
"You don't have to remind me, Anubis, I'm just making it a bit more realistic." Dais replied in annoyance.  
  
"Hey guys, over there!" Rowen yelled as he noticed that a building was getting ready to topple over.  
  
Sage nodded, he knew what Rowen had in mind. Now if there was some way to get the warlords to follow and make the building to fall on top of them. "What's the matter, Anubis, can't hit us with your sure-kill? I bet that you can't even hit the broad side of a barn!" Kento challenged with a grin.  
  
That's all that was needed to get Anubis's blood to boil. "You'll pay for your insolence, Hardrock. Quake with fear!"   
  
Anubis shouted as he delivered his sure-kill towards Kento.  
  
"That's it, wait for it, wait for it, and now!" Kento thought as he jumped out of the way in the last second before Anubis's attack could snare him. The attack hit the teetering building right in the weak spot, making it fall over in the warlords direction.   
  
"Anubis, you baka!" Cale yelled as he and the other warlords dove for cover before the building could topple over them.  
  
As the dust cleared, all that could be seen were the warlords lying on the ground out cold with nothing but a huge pile of bricks covering them. "You know what, that seemed just a little too easy." Rowen said as they looked at the unconscious warlords.  
  
"Hey, it worked didn't it? So come on, were wasting time just standing here. Let's get going already." Kento said with a smirk.  
  
"Yea I suppose so, but it still seems too easy." Rowen replied reluctantly as they took off from there.   
  
"I was wondering when they were going to leave." Cale said as Dais called off his illusion.  
  
"What are you wining about, Cale, it worked didn't it?" Dais asked as he glanced over towards him.  
  
"Yes, I suppose so, We better go and inform master Talpa that they are on their way." Cale replied.  
  
"Those pesky Ronins have no idea of what lies ahead. This is going to be good." Anubis thought with a cruel smile as he and the other warlords disappeared. 


	7. ch 7

Dying of the Light  
  
Ch 7  
  
"Hitting at them head on wasn't exactly the best idea that I've had." Sian thought as he shook his head.  
  
"What's the matter, Sian, are you still feeling the effect of my little poison," Dante taunted with a smirk. "Soon enough, you'll be under my complete control."   
  
"Give me the antidote, I know that you have it." Sian said as his vision kept on going in and out of focus.  
  
"What makes you think that I have it with me? I could have it hidden somewhere," Dante replied as he noticed that Sian's condition was getting worse. "Now, you have a choice. You can either keep enduring the pain as you try to fight off the transformation from becoming a hunter, or you can come with me, and I'll give you the antidote. Which one will it be?"  
  
"Not much of a choice, it's not like he would hand over the antidote just like that without some kind of catch to it. I know what he wants me to do, and he knows that I won't do it. But I don't know how much longer I can keep fighting the transformation." Sian thought in despair.  
  
"Well, Sian, what is it going to be," Dante asked as he started to approach him. "Will you chose to become a hunter, or will you do as I say and I'll give you the antidote?"  
  
"It seems like you've played out your hand pretty well, Dante. It looks like it doesn't matter which one that I choose, you'll win either way," Sian replied as he looked around. "But unfortunately for you, I see another option that just opened up for me."  
  
"What are you..? Jakobe, stop him! Don't let him get away!" Dante said as he saw that Sian was running towards some kind of underground tunnels.   
  
"Come on you baka, try and catch me." Sian thought as he headed into the tunnels. Jakobe suddenly stopped short as he lost sight of him.  
  
"Why aren't you going in there? Go after him!" Dante asked angrily as he ran over to where Sian escaped.  
  
"In there? You've got to be kidding me. There's no way that I'm going to run around   
  
underground, and risk the chance of getting lost." Jakobe replied as he glared back at him.  
  
"You baka," Dante swore. "It doesn't matter, we know where he's going. Rather he wants to or not, Sian will become one of us. Besides, we have other business to take care of."   
  
In an abandoned building...  
  
"I think that we better rest here before heading into Talpa's castle. We need to come up with a plan of some kind." Ryo said as he looked at them.  
  
"I say that we forget about a plan, and just bust in there. I mean come on, Ryo, we've been inside Talpa's castle so many times, that we know where everything is by memory." Kento replied.  
  
"Kento, you know that we can't just bust in. Especially since we don't have our full armors."   
  
Sage said as he leaned against the wall.  
  
"Then what do you suggest we do, Sage, just sit around and wait for our armors just to appear out of nowhere?" Kento replied hotly.  
  
"Maybe I can be of service?" a voice said out of nowhere making everyone quickly stand up and look around.  
  
"Who are you?" Cye asked, as the figure appeared hovering over them.  
  
"To say the least, I'm shocked Torrent, I thought that during all of these years fighting Talpa that you would remember who I am." the voice replied with a scoff.  
  
"Badamon!" Rowen replied as they took defensive positions.  
  
"There's no need for that Ronins. I've come here to offer you a proposition." Badamon said.  
  
"How did you find us?" Kaye asked as she glared at him.  
  
"That was easy, considering that the Dynasty and the mortal world are now one. I know everything that Talpa does, maybe more," Badamon replied with a smirk. "Now, are you willing to listen to what I have to say?"   
  
"Whatever you're selling, we're not interested!" Kento shot back.  
  
"Not even if it's how you can get your full armors back?" Badamon asked in amusement.  
  
"Since when are you willing to help us? Wasn't it you and your nether spirits that took them from us in the first place?" Ryo asked back.  
  
"It was, and so what? Do you want them back or not?" Badamon asked as he held out his hands, and made all seven kanji balls appear.  
  
"I don't exactly trust him, I mean what possible motive does he have in giving us our armors back?" Rowen asked as he glanced over at him.  
  
"We know Rowen, none of us exactly trust him either, but what choice do we have? It's going to be kind of hard to fight Talpa without our full powers." Ryo replied.  
  
"Talpa is the least of your worries." Badamon said as he continued to watch them.  
  
"What are you talking about, Badamon?" Cye asked suspiciously.  
  
"I'm talking about Dante and Jakobe, they're planning something against master Talpa. But I'm not sure what," Badamon replied. "So, what's your answer, are you going to take your kanji balls back, or not?"  
  
"Badamon, does Talpa know that you're here?" Kaye asked curiously.  
  
"Master Talpa doesn't need to know everything that I do." Badamon replied.  
  
"Then I take that as a no." Kaye said with a smirk.  
  
"Enough of this foolish bantering, take back your kanji balls and do what you see fit. I have to get back to the castle." Badamon replied as he threw the kanji balls at their respected owners, and then disappeared.   
  
"Ok, now that was way too weird, even for me." Rowen said as he looked at his kanji ball.  
  
"Hey, I'm not questioning him any more, we have our armors so let's go in and kick some major butt!" Kento replied, as he was about to transform into his full armor.  
  
"Wait a minute, Kento, what about this?" Kaye asked as she was holding onto Sian's kanji ball.   
  
"Why don't you just give it to me?" a voice asked from behind, making them turn around to see who said that.  
  
"Sian, you're ok!" Kento replied as he embraced his son.  
  
"Dad, you're embarrassing me." Sian said as he tried to pull away.  
  
"Oh, sorry about that." Kento replied with a smirk.  
  
"Sian, where did you go? Are you really ok? You've had us worried sick! Do you realize..?" Kaye started to say.  
  
"Mom, first of all, I want to say that I'm sorry..." Sian replied as he interrupted her.  
  
"It's ok, I know that you weren't yourself when that happened." Kaye said.  
  
"No it's not ok, I almost killed you!" Sian replied.  
  
"But you didn't." Kaye replied as she laid her hand onto of his shoulder.  
  
"Damn it mom, why do you have to be so understanding about this?" Sian asked as he quickly jerked around making Kaye pull her hand away from him.  
  
"Because Sian, you're my son. And there's nothing that you could do to change how I or your father, or even your uncles feel about you." Kaye replied quietly.  
  
"Don't be too sure about that." Sian said under his breath.  
  
"What do you mean by that, Sian?" Cye asked as he gave him a curious look. Sian took a deep breath and then he turned around to face them.  
  
"I think that you better sit down, there's something I think that I should tell you." Sian   
  
replied as he started to tell them about the nightmares that he had when they were all at the small house.  
  
"Do you think that what Sian saw in his nightmares could actually become a reality?" Rowen asked as he made a quick glance towards him.  
  
"Can't really be sure, Rowen, I mean all of us had nightmares that came true in one way or another, there's nothing saying that his won't either." Sage replied.  
  
"So then what, are you going to turn your back on him, when he needs us the most?" Kento asked as he was starting to get a little angry at Sage's statement.  
  
"Kento, I'm not saying that, all I'm saying is that we have to be extra careful. We don't know how far along the poison has ran in his system." Sage replied.  
  
"Then why don't you try to heal him? We have our armors back now." Kento said.  
  
"I can try, but I don't know how or if it'll do any good." Sage replied.  
  
"Uncle Sage, if you're willing to do it, then count me in too." Sian said as he walked up behind them.  
  
"Sian, are you sure? You know that I'm not totally positive if it'll work or not." Sage said as he looked towards him.  
  
"Yea, I'm sure, I'm willing to try almost anything to make sure that my nightmares don't come true," Sian replied. "But I'm going to need one more thing before we start."  
  
"Here ya go, it is yours, after all." Kaye said as she tossed Sian's kanji ball to him.  
  
"Ok uncle Sage, I'm ready." Sian replied as he and Sage transformed into their armors. Sian then lay down on the ground as the others watched in anticipation, hoping that it would work, and the poison would be out of his system. Things looked good from what they could tell, but then something went wrong. Sian's eyes flew open; he jumped up from the ground looking at everyone wildly.  
  
"Sage, what happened!?" Ryo asked as he quickly ran beside him.  
  
"I don't know, I think that the poison has some kind of immunity against my healing powers." Sage replied.  
  
"Sian, Sian just calm down, take it easy." Cye said as he tried to calm him.  
  
"Stay away! Just stay away!" Sian replied, and then suddenly Sian grabbed his head and yelled in pain.   
  
Laughter out of nowhere suddenly filled the room, "Dante, come out, we know that it's you!" Ryo yelled in no particular direction.  
  
"Ronins, I've already told you. I'm the only one that can give Sian the antidote. And here you are trying to cure him yourselves, such fools," Dante replied while still laughing. "All you've done was increased the speed of his transformation, and now he's under my control." 


	8. ch 8

Dying of the Light  
  
Ch8  
  
"What!? No, that can't be possible!" Sage said in disbelief as he glanced over at Sian.  
  
"Shocked? I thought that you would be. But I suppose that I should thank you, Halo, you've unknowingly helped me complete part one of my plan." Dante replied with a cruel smile.  
  
"Dante, shouldn't we..?" Jakobe asked as he did a quick nod.  
  
"Yes Jakobe, I think that it's time to collect what's ours." Dante replied with a cold grin.  
  
"If you think that we're going to let you take Sian, then you have another think coming." Ryo warned as he and the others got into defensive positions.  
  
"Who said anything about taking the boy? He'll be coming to us on his own." Dante replied as he started to change.  
  
"Wha.? What is he doing?" Cye asked as they stepped back while Dante continued to change.  
  
"What do you think? He's transforming into his true form," Jakobe replied with an evil laugh. "As of am I."   
  
Dante leaned forward, grabbing onto his sides as a set of wings popped out from his shoulder blades. These wings were dark orange on top, while having a golden type of undertone. Then his body morphed from what passed as a human's to a very muscular and scaly dragon. His coloring was that pretty much as the same as his wings. The top of his body had the dark orange, while the underside was a golden type in color. Dante looked up into the sky and gave a loud and blood curdling roar. Then he looked towards them as they started to slowly move back, "what's the matter? You act like you haven't seen a dragon before." Dante asked as he looked at them with his emerald green eyes.  
  
Jakobe also leaned forward, grabbing onto his sides as a pair of midnight black wings popped out from his shoulder blades. His body was a little smaller than Dante's, but it was still just as muscular and scaly. His body coloring was a midnight black. His neck and face were a charcoal gray. He also looked up to the sky and gave a roar into the sky that would make one's blood turn ice cold. Jakobe then looked down, "Did you actually think that we hunters were actually human?" Jakobe asked as he looked at them with his white eyes.  
  
"This is so not good." Rowen said as they kept their eyes on the two dragons.  
  
"Oh yea, genius, and what was your first clue? The fact that we're facing not one, but two dragons?" Kento asked as he stole a glance towards him.  
  
"How the heck are we suppose to fight them? We never fought dragons before, or at least I haven't, I don't know about the rest of ya." Kaye asked back.  
  
"Actually, Kaye, neither have we." Cye replied.  
  
"I was afraid that you were going to say that." Kaye said.  
  
"So then, since those two are hunters, and hunters are dragons, then, Sian..." Rowen mused to himself. "Shit!"  
  
"Rowen, what is it?" Sage asked as he glanced over towards him.  
  
"Humph, it looks like Strata has finally figured it out." Dante replied with a toothy grin.  
  
"It sure took him long enough." Jakobe replied in annoyance.  
  
"Rowen, what are they talking about," Ryo asked. "Rowen!"   
  
"The poison that Dante administered to Sian when he chased after Dais, it's transforming him into a hunter, and a hunter is a dragon." Rowen replied as they quickly adverted their eyes towards Sian, as he seemed to be still fighting the effects.  
  
"Ok, that's it, I've had enough. Thunder bolt cut!" Sage yelled as he delivered his sure-kill directly at the two dragons. Jakobe roared loudly as he turned his head from the bright light of Sage's attack, while Dante just stood there, laughing. "You'll pay for that, you annoying human!" Jakobe replied as he turned back to face him.  
  
"Jakobe, calm yourself." Dante said calmly.  
  
"But Dante, you know how..." Jakobe replied as he tried to object.  
  
"Jakobe!" Dante said as he silenced him, not wanting the Ronins or Kaye to know the effect that Sage's attack had on him.  
  
"So, they've finally revealed their true form. This is bad, hunters only transform from being humans to dragons when," Sian thought as he saw what was going on. "No! Get out of there, now!"   
  
"Sian, wha," Ryo started to ask, and then noticed that the two dragons were about to advance towards them. "Scatter!"   
  
The guys and Kaye jumped out of the way to avoid being stomped on. Just as Kaye was about to land, Jakobe grabbed her out of the air. "Let go!" Kaye yelled as she was trying to get out of his grip.  
  
"Kaye! You heard the lady, let her go!" Kento yelled as he charged at Jakobe.   
  
"Kento, watch out!" Cye yelled out to him as Dante grabbed him from behind.  
  
"Get your scaly claw off of me!" Kento yelled angrily as he was trying to get free.  
  
"The two of you can struggle all you want, but it'll do you no good." Dante said with a laugh as they continued to struggle.  
  
"We've got what we've came for, may I suggest that we take our leave, Dante?" Jakobe asked with a grin.  
  
"Yes let's, I'm starting to get bored with these humans. Besides, we have another pressing engagement. Jakobe, if you would." Dante replied.  
  
"I thought that you would never ask." Jakobe said as he looked straight at them and then breathed a black cloud, surrounding them in complete darkness.  
  
"What's going on? I can't see!" Ryo yelled out angrily as he and the others were rubbing their eyes.  
  
"What did you do!?" Kaye asked in concern as she watched them from above.  
  
"I've blinded them." Jakobe replied.   
  
"You've what! You, monster, I'll make you pay for that!" Kento yelled angrily at him.  
  
"Don't worry, it's only temporary, and besides, when they wake up they'll feel, well let's just say that they won't be at full strength." Jakobe replied as the Ronins and Sian fell to the ground unconscious.  
  
"Guys, guys, wake up!" Kaye yelled down to them.  
  
"Don't waste your breath, by the time that they wake up, we'll be long gone." Dante said as and Jakobe carried them away.  
  
In Talpa's throne room...  
  
"Badamon!" Talpa bellowed angrily.  
  
"Yes, master Talpa, you called?" Badamon replied as he appeared before him.  
  
"What were you doing when you were with the Ronins?" Talpa asked as he drummed his fingers on the armrest.  
  
"I don't know what you mean, master. I wasn't anywhere..." Badamon replied.  
  
"Don't lie to me, Badamon, I know that you were with them. Now let's try this again, what were you doing with the Ronins?" Talpa asked again.  
  
"I gave them back their armors." Badamon replied.  
  
"What!" Talpa said in pure anger as he sat straight up in his throne.  
  
"I have foreseen something that could possibly threaten you and the Dynasty. My only motive was to keep your safety and the safety of the Dynasty in mind, master Talpa." Badamon replied.  
  
"Is that so? Tell me, Badamon, what did you foresee that would suggest that you would act out like this?" Talpa asked as he settled back into his throne.  
  
"It wasn't totally clear, but what I can tell you is this. Whatever you do, master Talpa, don't turn your back on Dante and Jakobe, not even for a second. I have a feeling that they're up to something." Badamon replied.  
  
Talpa drummed his fingers onto the throne's armrest again, he looked like he was in deep thought until, "you may go, Badamon." Talpa said as he dismissed him.  
  
"Yes my lord." Badamon replied as he disappeared.  
  
Elsewhere...  
  
"Oh man, my head," Ryo groaned as he started to slowly sit up. "Hey, is everyone all right?"  
  
"A little weak, but fine," Cye replied as he held his hands up in front of his face. "Hey, I can see again."  
  
"I'm glad that you're up and around, I was beginning to get worried." Sian said as he stayed in the shadows.  
  
"Sian, why don't you come out of there?" Rowen asked as he squinted to try and get a better look.  
  
"Ah no, I'd rather stay where I am." Sian replied as he backed a little further into the shadows.  
  
"Sian, what's wrong? Why won't you come out?" Sage asked.  
  
"I don't want you to see me like this." Sian replied.  
  
"What do you mean? See you like what?" Ryo asked in concern.  
  
"Like this." Sian replied as he stepped forward just a little bit so they could see barely a glimpse of his body.  
  
"What the? Sian, that's not..." Cye asked in surprise as he saw that Sian had a pair of dragon's wings, but the rest of him as far as they could tell was human.  
  
"Unfortunately, the transformation is starting to take its full effect. For some reason, it's taking longer on me than it did on the other Ronins from my time." Sian replied as he backed again into the shadows.  
  
"So then, the hunters from your time, they hunt other Ronins like us and turn them into dragons?   
  
Why?" Rowen asked as he and the others looked towards Sian for an explanation.  
  
"Yes, no, kind of, it's kinda hard to explain." Sian replied.  
  
"Try Sian, we have to know what we're up against, if we are to get Kento and Kaye back from those two." Sage said.  
  
"At first Dante use to hunt just regular humans. The weak ones for food, and the strong ones he turned into dragons, but they didn't last very long. He then started to get bored, and then he found a few other people that were different than his usual prey." Sian replied as his anger started to rise a little bit.  
  
"You mean that he found other armor wearers." Rowen said.  
  
"Yea, he found out that there were major differences between regular humans and humans that wear mystical armors. Dante found out that the ones that wore armors had greater power than the ones that don't. So he started to hunt them instead, everyday it got harder and harder to fight off Dante's dragons. The more dragons Dante create, the less of a chance that anyone wearing mystical armor has of staying human." Sian replied as he finished his explanation.  
  
"Sian, can you tell us about what kind of dragons Dante and Jakobe are?" Sage asked as he looked towards him.  
  
"Dante is what's called a bronze dragon. He loves warfare; his kind will join any army depending on how much they would pay him to fight. Because they knew that having a hunter in their army was a definite sign of victory. He can read and control minds, he'll know what you intend to do even before you do it. Dante has two main attacks, one is he can breath out lightning, and the second is a loathing gas cloud. His type can also cast spells, and is a battle modify. But there's one more thing that you should know about Dante." Sian replied as he clutched his hands.  
  
"Oh yea, and what's that?" Ryo asked.  
  
"Dante is immune to electricity." Sian replied.  
  
"Then that explains why Sage's sure-kill wouldn't work against Dante." Rowen said with realization.  
  
"What about Jakobe? What kind is he?" Cye asked.  
  
"Jakobe is what's called a shadow dragon. He's not exactly thrilled about bright light or the darkness. So his kind basically stays underground. He likes to use invisibility and the shadows to get behind his prey. They like to use illusions, or phantom spells to confuse or misdirect people. His main attack is what he just did when he breathed that black cloud that makes one temporarily blind, also it can make someone lose a good deal of their life energy." Sian explained.  
  
"Well, that's one thing that we have for us." Rowen replied as he crossed his arms.  
  
"What is, Rowen?" Ryo asked as he looked over to him with slight confusion.  
  
"When Sage called upon his sure-kill, that it hurt Jakobe. He doesn't like the light, I think that it hurts his eyes." Rowen replied.  
  
"Ok then, so we know how to fight Jakobe, but how do we fight Dante? He sounds like he's invincible?" Cye asked.  
  
"Dante maybe be able to read human minds, but he can't read dragon minds." Sian replied as he turned his back on them.  
  
"Sian, you're not saying what I think you're saying?" Ryo asked as his eyes went wide in realization.  
  
"It's the only way." Sian replied quietly.  
  
"What about your visions? If you go through with the transformation into a hunter, then you'll..." Cye said in concern.  
  
"I know! But I can't stop it! It's too late for me," Sian replied. "It's too late!"  
  
Sian started morph more towards the physical aspect of a dragon's body. A tail shot out from his tailbone, as the rest of his body started to generate dragon characteristics. Sian looked at his hands, they were almost fully transformed into claws, and then he started to run from them. As he started to pick up speed, his wings opened up and Sian was flying away. "Sian, come back, Sian!" Ryo yelled out to him. 


	9. ch 9

Dying of the Light  
  
Ch 9  
  
"Ryo, watch out!" Sage exclaimed as he tackled him out of the way from Sian's attack.  
  
"Sian, what's the big idea? Don't you recognize us?" Ryo yelled up at him as he looked up from where he and Sage were getting up. A loud roar was given in response to his questions, as the dragon hovered in the air, keeping a close watch on them.  
  
"I don't think that Sian does recognize us." Rowen replied as he kept his eyes on him.  
  
"What are we suppose to do? We can't fight that thing, it's still Sian." Cye asked in concern.  
  
"We know Cye, but Sian is a full fledge hunter now, we have to fight him." Ryo replied as he stole a glance towards him.  
  
"NO Ryo! I know that Sian's still in there somewhere!" Cye replied sternly.  
  
"I know how badly you want to believe that Cye, so do we, but..." Ryo started to say.  
  
"I don't care what you say Ryo, I won't let you, Sage or Rowen lay a hand on him!" Cye replied as he stood in their line of fire.  
  
"Cye, get out of the way!" Sage yelled at him.  
  
"NO, I'm not moving! If you want to attack Sian, then you have to go through me!" Cye replied as he looked towards them with a very determined look in his eyes. As Sian continued to hover in the air, he watched them in slight confusion. He wasn't sure of what to make out of the present situation. Should he attack them? Then Cye's words echoed in his mind. "I know that Sian's still in there somewhere!" Sian threw his head violently up into the air, as he gave a heart-wrenching roar.  
  
===============================================================  
  
"Alright you two, it's time to wake up." Dante said as he and Jakobe came into the dark room.   
  
"Aw, what's the matter? Are you having trouble trying to move?" Jakobe asked with an evil smirk as Kento and Kaye were trying to struggle.  
  
"If I were you, I wouldn't struggle so much." Dante taunted.  
  
"Yea? And why's that?" Kento asked hotly as he glared at them.  
  
"Because the more that you struggle, the tighter they become. Those aren't your regular run of the mill chains, you know," Dante replied with a smirk. "You don't look like you believe me, I think that a demonstration is in order."  
  
As Dante's eyes began to give off an emerald green glow, the chains that were binding them began to get tighter and tighter, as they were starting to gasp for air. "Do you believe Dante now," Jakobe asked. They gave a quick nod, "good." Then the chains stopped squeezing them.  
  
"You've done what you've came here to do. Then why..?" Kaye began to ask as she was trying to get her breathing back under control.  
  
"You want to know why we're still here? As well as why we have the two of you?" Dante asked with a gleam in his eye.  
  
"Yes." Kaye replied as she glared angrily at them.  
  
"I thought that the answer to the second question was so obvious?" Jakobe asked with a sly smile.  
  
"You want to test Sian's loyalty," Kento shot back. "You wanted to see if he would chose to follow you, or if he would fight you."   
  
"You're a lot smarter than you look, Hardrock," Dante replied with a laugh. "But you're only partially correct."  
  
"Yea well, don't let that get around, I have a rep to uphold, ya know." Kento said as he glared at him.  
  
"As to why were still here, we've talked about it, and we've decided that why go back to Dante's time? Why not just stay here and rule the new world? I mean, it would be so easy, mainly because there are fewer annoying Ronins here in this time than the future. And besides, your husband and your friends were the only ones capable to defeat Talpa time and time again. So then your powers would be proven to be useful for us." Jakobe said as he started to explain.  
  
"Wait a minute, you said that Kento was only partially right. What's the rest? You have some other hidden agenda?" Kaye asked as she eyed them suspiciously.  
  
"If we are going to over throw Talpa, and I assure you that we will, then we're going to need a couple of more..." Dante replied with a cruel smile as he pulled out the vile of poison. "Let's say volunteers."  
  
"Forget it Dante, I would rather die, than to follow orders from someone like you!" Kaye spat angrily.  
  
"That can be easily arranged!" Dante replied angrily as he glowed an emerald green and made the chains that were binding Kaye wrap tightly around her like a constrictor does when it squeezes the life out of its prey.  
  
"Kaye, no! Dante, stop it, I said stop!" Kento yelled angrily at him as his anger gave him an extra boost of adrenalin that helped him pull free one of his arms.  
  
"What!? How could you? It's inconceivable!" Dante asked in shock as he stopped glowing and then the chains went slack, leaving Kaye hanging barely conscious.  
  
"Dante, I believe another approach is to be taken." Jakobe said as he suddenly came up with an idea.  
  
"I do believe that you're right, Jakobe. Come, let us leave these two, it's not like they're   
  
going anywhere any time soon." Dante replied as he and Jakobe disappeared. Just as they   
  
vanished, the chains that were holding Kento and Kaye disappeared and they fell to the floor.   
  
"Kaye, are you all right? Come on, say something, anything!" Kento pleaded.  
  
"Kento..." Kaye started to say.  
  
"Yea?" Kento asked in concern.  
  
"I can't move my leg." Kaye replied as she winced.  
  
"What's wrong with it? Is it broken?" Kento asked as he looked towards her.  
  
"No, it's not broken, you're laying on it." Kaye replied as she looked back.  
  
"Oh, sorry about that." Kento said with a small grin as he started to get up.  
  
"Thanks, that's much better." Kaye replied as she returned a smile of her own while he helped her to stand.  
  
"So, now what? We can't exactly stay around here." Kento asked.  
  
"I know, but I don't see any windows or doors, do you?" Kaye asked back.  
  
"No, but who says that I can't make an exit for us," Kento asked as he got ready to deliver his sure-kill to a wall on the other side. "Take cover."  
  
Kaye nodded and then quickly took cover behind a large statue, and then he delivered his sure-kill towards the wall. Just as it the wall, it bounced back and started to come straight at him.   
  
"Kento!" Kaye exclaimed as his sure-kill hit him, and made him fly into the wall.   
  
"Oh man, so that's what it feels like." Kento mused as he was starting to slowly get up.  
  
"Kento! Are you all right!?" Kaye asked urgently as she quickly ran over to him.  
  
"Yea, I'm ok." Kento replied as he was finally standing.  
  
"Looks like Dante wants to keep us here for a while." Kaye said as she looked towards where Kento delivered his sure-kill.  
  
"Yea, so now what can we do? Just sit around and wait for those two losers to come back," Kento asked as he crossed his arms. "You know that's not my style."   
  
"I know Kento, but at the moment there's nothing else that we can do." Kaye replied as they both sat down so they could try to keep up whatever strength that they had, because they knew that they're going to needed all the strength that they can get.  
  
===============================================================  
  
"Master Talpa, do you think that Badamon was right? Do you think that Dante and Jakobe will actually be stupid enough to try anything against you?" Dais asked as he looked towards him.  
  
"If they do, then they are fools! They are more than welcome to try, but they'll find out that whatever they do will be useless against me." Talpa replied as his eyes glowed red.  
  
"Fools are we? When the time comes, then we'll see if you will be able to fight, let alone   
  
live." Dante said as he watched from the shadows and then disappeared. 


	10. ch 10

Dying of the Light   
  
Ch 10  
  
"No, musn't..fight them. Have to. Get away..I don't want..to hurt them. NO!" Sian thought to himself as he raised his head up again and roared in agony.  
  
"Sian, calm down! I know that you can hear me! I won't let them hurt you!" Cye yelled up to him hoping to get through.  
  
"Cye, are you crazy?! Get out of the way! In case you didn't notice, Sian isn't human any more!" Ryo yelled over to him.  
  
"I'm not blind, Ryo, I know that's not Sian's body, but on the inside he's still there." Cye   
  
replied unmoving.  
  
===============================================================  
  
"Master Talpa, I bring you some news that you might find interesting." Badamon said as he appeared in the throne room.  
  
"What is it?" Talpa asked in slight anger.  
  
"It seems that Torrent is trying to keep the other remaining Ronins and the dragon from fighting each other." Badamon replied as he produced an image that backed up what he said.  
  
"Interesting," Talpa said as he drummed his fingers along the armrest. "Badamon, is there a way for you to take control over the dragon's mind?"  
  
"Unfortunately, master Talpa, this I can not do," Badamon replied as he crossed his arms. "But it does seem like he's trying to fight against the transformation."  
  
"This could be proven useful to me after all," Talpa mused as he stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Warlords!"  
  
"Yes master Talpa." Anubis replied as he and the other warlords appeared before him.  
  
"There's something that I want to four of you to do." Talpa said as he motioned over to the image that was before them.  
  
"It would be our pleasure." Cale replied with a cold smile as he and the other warlords   
  
disappeared.  
  
===============================================================  
  
"Huh? What the? Get down!" Sage yelled as he warned the others as an attack out of nowhere hit just above their heads.  
  
"I can't believe that you've actually missed." Anubis said in slight amusement.  
  
"I didn't miss, I was just giving them a warning shot." Cale replied.  
  
"Since when do you give warning shots?" Anubis asked.  
  
"What's going on, why are you here?" Rowen asked as he and the others stood up while carefully watching the warlords.  
  
"We've noticed that you had a little predicament, and decided to come and see if we could offer our assistance." Sekhmet replied in an arrogant tone.  
  
"Yea right, look, we don't need any kind of "help" from the likes of you!" Cye shot back.  
  
"By the looks of things, we think that you do." Dais replied with a smug look.  
  
===============================================================  
  
"Do the two of you still refuse to volunteer to become hunters?" Dante asked as he and Jakobe entered the room where Kento and Kaye were being held.  
  
"You didn't give Sian a choice when you turned him into a hunter. So then why are you even bothering to ask, especially since you know what our answer will be?" Kaye asked angrily as she and Kento quickly stood up and faced them ready to fight.  
  
"I thought that you would say something like that." Jakobe replied as he and Dante started to transform again into dragons. But this time it seemed that the transformation went a lot quicker than when they saw it the first time.  
  
"Aw how sweet, you two actually are going to try and protect each other," Dante said   
  
sarcastically as he gave a toothy grin. "Hardrock with his iron rock crusher and Tiger with her tiger's rage."  
  
"How did you..?" Kento asked as he and Kaye were both taken back.  
  
"How did I know? Simple, I can read minds, so I know what your next move will be even before you make it." Dante replied. As Dante were keeping their full attention, Jakobe snuck behind them by using the shadows, and then a dark blanket of black smoke started to fill the room.  
  
"This is just too easy, you're acting like two blind mice. Oh wait, you are blind, aren't you?" Dante asked in slight amusement as he perched himself on a ledge watching them.  
  
"We may be blind, but that won't stop us from kicking your sorry ass!" Kento yelled to him.  
  
"How can you hit, what you can't see?" Jakobe asked as he quickly rushed between them separating them from each other.  
  
"Why don't you stop running around like a scared rabbit, and face me, or are you too afraid?" Kento challenged as he got into a fighting stance.  
  
"You'll risk attacking me especially when you know that you can't see. What about your wife?   
  
Won't you be afraid that she'll get hurt?" Jakobe taunted. Kento frowned deeply, he knew what Jakobe said was right. Kaye could get hurt if he delivered his sure-kill.  
  
"Don't worry about me, I trust you Kento. Do it!" Kaye yelled over to him.   
  
Kento gave a quick nod and then he started to deliver his sure-kill. "Iron rock crusher!" Kento called out as he finally delivered it. His attack went straight towards Jakobe, as the attack hit, he gave a very loud roar, and then went silent as he dropped to the ground.  
  
"Kento, you did it," Kaye exclaimed as she tried to find her way to him. "Kento? Kento!"  
  
A deep-throated sound of laughter came from behind her. "Wha, what's so funny?" Kaye asked as she quickly turned around.  
  
"I sincerely hope that you didn't think that he could actually take me down single handed, did you?" Jakobe asked as he raised his head.  
  
"But the fall?" Kaye asked as she was taken back.  
  
"It was just merely a rouse, nothing more." Jakobe replied as he wrapped his tail around Kento and lifted him up from the ground.  
  
"Where's Kento? What did you do to him!?" Kaye demanded.  
  
"Let's just say that he's wrapped up at the moment." Jakobe replied as he squeezed Kento with his tail. Kento yelled out as the pressure increased.  
  
"Let him go, or I'll..." Kaye warned as she got ready to deliver her sure-kill.  
  
"Or you'll what? Attack me with your tiger's rage? I highly doubt it." Jakobe replied with a toothy grin.  
  
As they were talking, Dante slowly slid his tail behind Kaye. Jakobe suddenly became quiet, she knew that something was wrong, but before she could do anything about it, Dante quickly wrapped his tail around her and lifted her into the air and brought her in front of his face. "You know, this would have been so much easier if you two weren't so stubborn and just volunteered to become hunters. But since neither of you are willing to comply, then that leaves us with no other choice." Dante said as he lightly touched Kaye's face with the tip of his tongue. Kaye shuddered as she could feel his hot breath on her. He then pulled back his tongue and then bit down onto Kaye's side making her yell out in extreme pain.  
  
===============================================================  
  
"Mom...mom," Sian thought in alarm as he quickly shot his head into the direction of Talpa's castle. "I can barely sense them, I have to get there and fast!"  
  
"Sian," Cye called out to him as he was fighting Sekhmet. "Wait, come back! Where are you going!?"  
  
"I wouldn't worry about the dragon, Torrent, if I were you, I would be more worried about yourself." Sekhmet replied as he took his snake fang swords and swiped at him. Cye jumped out of the way just as Sekhmet was about to take his feet from under him.  
  
"What's the deal, Anubis? You think that just because three of our friends are out that you believe that we'll be easier to get rid of," Ryo asked angrily. "Think again."  
  
"You have it all wrong, Wildfire, we're not here to fight you. We're here to ask for your help." Anubis replied as he did a high block with his sickle and chain.  
  
"That's rich, a warlord asking for help from us!" Sage said sarcastically as he took a swipe at Cale.  
  
"Believe what you will, Halo, but it's true. We need your help to fight Dante and Jakobe." Cale replied as he jumped back.  
  
"Why do you need help from us? I thought that they were working with you?" Rowen asked as he blocked with his bow.  
  
"It turns out that Dante and Jakobe are planning to over throw master Talpa and rule the merged worlds." Dais replied as he sheathed his nunjunkas.  
  
"And besides, they have two of your friends. Don't you want them back? As well as the antidote to the boy's present condition?" Cale asked as he and the other warlords stood back and faced the rest of the Ronins.  
  
"What do ya think, Ryo? Do ya think that it could be a trap of some kind?" Rowen asked as he stole a glance towards him.  
  
"I'm not sure what to think, Rowen, except that they're right, Dante and Jakobe do have our friends." Ryo replied.  
  
"Then what are we going to do? We can't join up with them, what if when all of this is done and they turn on us? I'm not sure if we'll have enough strength to fight them if that happens." Sage said as he kept his eyes on the warlords.  
  
"Well Ronins, what's your answer?" Cale asked as the warlords waited to see what they would say. 


	11. ch 11

Dying of the Light  
  
Ch 11  
  
Dante opened his mouth as he slowly pulled Kaye away from it with his tail. "I almost forgot how sweet human blood could taste." Dante said with slight amusement.  
  
"You monster! How dare you! Put my parents down, now!" Sian replied angrily as his eyes lit up like fire.  
  
"Monster? Look who's talking?" Jakobe said as he gave Sian a skeptical look.  
  
"Sian, I was wondering what it would take to finally get you here. Now I know." Dante replied as he waved Kaye's bleeding body in front of him, and then threw her to the nearest wall.  
  
"Mom! Why you!?" Sian spat angrily as his scales started to change colors.  
  
"Uh uh, I don't think so, aren't we forgetting someone?" Jakobe asked as he held up Kento by his tail, and then he too threw Kento into the wall next to Kaye.  
  
"Dad! All right, that's it! It's so on!" Sian replied as his scales turned totally red.   
  
"Yes, that's it, Sian, let the rage take you over. Let it consume you." Dante taunted as he and Jakobe started to circle him.  
  
===========================================================  
  
"I can't believe that we're doing this." Sage said as he and the others were following the warlords in one of the many secret tunnels that were all over Talpa's castle.  
  
"Get over it, already," Cale replied as they continued walking. "And keep it down, we don't want to alert the soldiers topside."  
  
"I don't take orders from you, Cale." Sage shot back.  
  
"Sage, back off." Ryo replied as he got a hold of Sage's arm.  
  
"Sage, calm down. We're as worried as you are about Kento, Kaye and Sian, but if you go off on Cale and the rest of the warlords now, we won't be able to help them." Rowen said as he tried to reason with Sage.  
  
"Alright, I get your point. Now let go of me." Sage replied reluctantly.  
  
"Are you sure that we're going the right way?" Cye asked as they continued on through the tunnel.  
  
"Look Torrent, you didn't have to come with us. You could have tried your luck and burst through Talpa's main gate. But if you did that, then it would have taken you twice as long to find them.   
  
Besides, by taking this tunnel, there's a possibility that they could still be alive when you get there." Skehmet replied.  
  
"This is it." Anubis said as he stopped.  
  
"What's it? Anubis, what are you talking about?" Ryo asked as he looked towards him.  
  
"This is as far as we go. Just go straight down the tunnel, and when you get to the end of it, pull down on the second torch and then a secret wall shall open for you. But it can only be opened from the outside, once in you're on your own." Anubis replied as he and the other warlords began to leave.  
  
"What?! That's it? You're just going to turn tale and run?" Sage asked in disbelief.  
  
"We did what we were suppose to do, and now we're leaving." Dais replied as they started to leave again.  
  
Ok, now at this point, Cye had more than enough. He knew that his family was in extreme danger, and could possibly die, and the warlords didn't act like they even cared. "Alright that's it!   
  
I'm tired of always being the quiet level headed one! You bloody cowards are going to come with us, and I don't bloody care if you like it or not!" Cye spat out angrily as he got ready to deliver his sure-kill at them.  
  
"Have you lost your mind, Torrent? If you do your sure-kill down here, the whole place could come down on top of our heads!" Cale asked in surprise.  
  
"Cye, what are you doing?!" Ryo asked as he grabbed onto Cye's Yari.  
  
"Ryo, in case you didn't notice we're up against two very large dragons. And you're just letting those cowards walk away! We're going to need all of the help that we can get!" Cye replied as he glared at him.  
  
Just then a very loud roar erupted into the air. "What was that?!" Sekhmet asked as the tunnel stopped shaking.  
  
"It's Sian, it looks like the poison has ran its final course." Rowen replied as he looked down towards the tunnel.  
  
"Well, are you going to come with us or not?" Cye asked as he glared at the warlords angrily.  
  
============================================  
  
"Am I dead," Kaye wondered as she slowly began to come around. "Nope, not dead, just have a major gaping hole in my side that just won't stop bleeding."  
  
"Anyone get the license plate of that truck?" Kento asked groggily as he finally came around.  
  
"Kento, hey Kento, are you ok?" Kaye asked as she tried to sit up next to him.  
  
"You mean besides the ringing in my head, very sore ribs, and the possibility of a...ah! Broken leg, then yea, I'm feeling just fine." Kento replied as he looked over to her.  
  
"You missed the part of where you have a gash on the side of your head that's bleeding." Kaye said as she tried to give him a small smile.   
  
"Yea, I guess that I did. What about you, are you? Shit Kaye! Your side!" Kento exclaimed as he saw the hole in her side and the pool of blood that was beside her.  
  
"It's not as bad as it looks." Kaye replied as she was trying to put up a front for him, but in actuality, her wound hurts a lot more than she's letting on.  
  
"Come on, we're getting out of here." Kento said as he was slowly getting up as he stabilized himself against the wall.  
  
"Kento, in case that hit on the head that you got somehow erased your recent memory, we can't get out of here because there's no door. And besides, neither of us are in much of a condition to be traveling anyway." Kaye replied as she reminded him of their situation.  
  
"Did someone say something about not having a door?" a voice asked as soon as the smoked cleared.  
  
"Ryo, you know, all you had to do was pull down the second torch, you didn't have to blow a hole in the wall." Rowen replied sarcastically.  
  
"Hey, it worked didn't it? I got us in, and I also provided us a way out." Ryo said with a   
  
smirk.   
  
"If you would stop patting yourself on your back, then you would realize that we have   
  
trouble...Big trouble." Sage replied as he drew their attention towards the hunters.   
  
"So you've made it after all. And I see that the warlords are actully working along side with you." Dante said with light amusement.  
  
"Yea well, it wasn't our idea." Sekhmet replied in slight annoyance as he glanced over at Cye.  
  
"It doesn't matter if it was your idea or not, when we're done here, the only thing that'll be   
  
standing in our way for total world domination, is Talpa. And he will be an easy push over." Jakobe said in an arrogant tone. 


	12. ch 12

Dying of the Light  
  
ch 12  
  
"Is Torrent right? Is this as much as our fight, as it is theirs?" Anubis wondered as he glanced over towards the Ronins as they were fighting Dante and Jakobe.  
  
"Let's go, the Ronins seem to be handling themselves just fine without our help." Sekhmet said as he and the others started to leave.   
  
"No Sekhmet, we're going to stay and help them." Anubis replied as he refused to budge from where he's standing.  
  
"Anubis, are you out of your mind? We're their enemies, or have you forgotten that?" Cale asked as he glared at him.  
  
"No Cale, I haven't forgotten. But I'm thinking that if we don't help them, then they'll come after us next, and then when were out of the way, all that's left will be master Talpa." Anubis replied as he pulled out his kursari-gama, and got ready to fight.  
  
The other warlords looked at each other, all of them were thinking that Cale was right, and that Anubis has lost his mind. But then, they realized that Anubis also had a valid point as well.   
  
"Anubis, I only have one thing to say." Dais said as he glanced over at him and held out his nunjunkas.  
  
"Oh, and what's that?" Anubis asked as he glanced back.  
  
"Whatever you do, don't make us regret this." Dais replied as he saw that Anubis gave him a smirk.   
  
"Snake fang strike!" Sekhmet called out as he delivered his sure kill towards Dante and Jakobe.   
  
The attack hit, making the two dragons turn their heads slightly.  
  
"What do you call that? If that was your best attack, then you're pathetic." Dante replied as he swung his wing back, making Sekhmet fly back into the wall.  
  
"Black lightning slash!" Cale called out as it hit Jakobe.  
  
"AH! My eyes! My eyes!" Jakobe yelled out as he covered his eyes.  
  
"Humph, now who's the pathetic one?" Cale asked with a smirk.  
  
"Cale, watch out!" Ryo yelled out to him. "Flare up now!"   
  
Ryo's sure kill struck at the tip of Jakobe's tail as the fire of Ryo's attack ran all the way up   
  
from the tail to the top of his head. "Whoa, barbeque dragon. I wonder if it taste like   
  
chicken." Kento said with a smirk.  
  
"Kento!?" Kaye replied in disbelief.  
  
"What?!" Kento asked as he looked over to her.   
  
"Never mind." Kaye replied as she shook her head.  
  
"I heard that!" Jakobe said as the fire from Ryo's attack went out. "Let's see if barbequed   
  
humans taste like chicken."   
  
"Oh boy." Kento replied.  
  
"Nice going Kento." Kaye said as she rolled her eyes.  
  
"Sorry." Kento replied apologetically.  
  
"Wha? Kento, look out!" Kaye warned as she shoved him out of the way. Kento staggered back and fell to the ground, avoiding getting grabbed by a dragon's claw. When Kento looked up to see who grabbed Kaye, he saw that it wasn't Dante, and it wasn't Jakobe, it was Sian.   
  
"Sian let her go!" Kento yelled up to him. Sian decided to ignore Kento's warning and decided to grab for him too. "Hey! What's the big idea?"  
  
"Kento! Sian, what are you doing?!" Rowen asked as he and the others paused in the fight.  
  
"He's finally going to do what he came here to do in the first place." Dante replied.  
  
"Sian, you can't!" Cye yelled up to him.  
  
"I have to, I don't have a choice!" Sian replied as he started to squeeze them.  
  
"There's always a choice, Sian, you just need to know where to look." Cye yelled back. Cye's words echoed in the back of his mind. He knew that he heard those exact words once before. The day that he was arguing with his parents came flooding back into his mind. He could see the argument that he was having with his father, while his mother was trying to calm both of them down. Then the words, that Cye and his mother both said resonated in his mind. Sian then threw his head back and gave a loud roar as he looked back at his parents, and then threw them into the wall. They hit the wall with such force that they bounced back and rolled to a full stop, barely breathing.   
  
"Kento! Kaye!" Cye called out in alarm.  
  
"Sage!" Ryo said as he urgently looked over at him. Sage nodded, he knew what Ryo had in mind, and then he ran over to them.  
  
"Sage?" Rowen asked as the rest of them hurried over.  
  
"They're breathing, but just barely. I'm not sure how long they can hold on until..." Sage replied as he looked over them.  
  
"Just don't sit there, do something!" Ryo said angrily.  
  
"Ryo, do you mind? Turn the volume down, you're giving me a headache." Kaye croaked as she started to slowly open her eyes.  
  
"And people say that I'm loud." Kento groaned as he started to stir a little.  
  
"Can the two of you stand?" Ryo asked as he looked towards them in concern.  
  
"Stand? Ryo, we're lucky to be able to sit up, let alone stand." Kaye replied with a frown.  
  
"No! What have I...what have you done?! You made me do this! You, monster!" Sian roared as he looked over at Dante.   
  
"My boy, I haven't made you do anything. You've done it all on your own. You're a hunter now, and a hunter you'll stay." Dante replied with a toothy grin.  
  
"If I have to be like this for the rest of my life, then doesn't mean that I have to take orders from you!" Sian said angrily as he took a swipe at Dante's wing.   
  
"You're a fool! Who do you think will accept you now? Your parents? How can they, they're dead." Dante taunted, "You killed them!"  
  
"NO! You lie, they're not dead, they're not!" Sian replied as he tackled Dante. As the two dragons wrestled with each other, the building started to collapse around them.  
  
"Ah guys, an exit would be a good idea right about now." Rowen said as he and the others were trying to help Kento and Kaye to stand.  
  
"Rowen, are you crazy," Kento asked in disbelief. "We can't leave Sian!"   
  
"Kento, Sian can take care of himself, unless you want to be buried alive, then I would suggest that we get the heck out of here." Rowen replied as he glanced over at him.   
  
"And besides, it looks like the warlords took off on us." Ryo said angrily.  
  
"I knew that we couldn't count on them, those cowards." Cye replied with a growl.  
  
Kento and Kaye looked at each other, and then they looked over to where Sian and Dante were still fighting. They knew that Rowen was right, and that Sian could take care of himself, but they still couldn't help the feeling that something very bad was going to happen. "Kento...Kaye?" Sage asked in concern. The two looked back towards their friends and nodded, then they quickly as they were able, made their way out of the crumbling room.  
  
Just as they made it out, "I was wondering what took you so long." Jakobe said with a smirk as they emerged from the tunnel.  
  
"Oh great, I almost forgot about him." Ryo replied in annoyance.  
  
"Oh don't worry, soon all of you will be nothing but a memory." Jakobe said with a gleam in his eye.   
  
Just as Jakobe was about to take a swipe at them, "quake with fear!" Anubis called out as his sickle and chain wrapped around the dragon.  
  
"Anubis! We thought that you…" Cye said with slight confusion.  
  
"What? That we would actually run out on you annoying Ronins? We may be enemies, but just this once we're sticking our necks out for you to help you out. Besides, we don't want a couple of crazy dragons ruling this world instead of master Talpa." Anubis replied as he glanced back at them.  
  
"So, does anyone have any ideas of how to defeat this thing?" Cale asked as he and the other warlords joined them.  
  
"Actually yea, Cale, Sage, both of you on the count of three, use your sure kills!" Rowen replied.  
  
"What?! How is that going to do anything against this creature?" Cale asked in disbelief.  
  
"Earlier I noticed that Jakobe couldn't stand both bright light and total darkness. So if the both of you deliver your sure kills at the exact same time…" Rowen started to say.  
  
"It's worth a shot, what do you say, Cale," Sage asked as he noticed that Cale threw him a look. "Hey, I'm not to thrilled about this either, but it's the only thing that just might work."  
  
"Fine, then let's get this over with." Cale replied, "Black lightning slash!"  
  
"Thunder bolt cut!" Sage called out as both sure kills hit Jakobe directly in the eyes exactly at the same time. Jakobe yelled out in extreme pain, blood started to flow from his eyes as he clawed at them.   
  
"Ok, he's blinded, so now what?!" Cale asked as he looked back towards the Ronins.  
  
"Now everyone, deliver your sure kills," Ryo replied as he took aim at Jakobe. "Flare up now"! The others quickly followed with their attacks, each one hitting in a different spot, making Jakobe roar out in pain, and then he fell dead to the ground.   
  
"Is he actually…?" Kaye started to ask as Jakobe stayed lifeless for a few seconds.   
  
"I think so." Sage replied as he gave a sigh of relief. Just then a very loud and pain filled roar could be heard from behind them.  
  
"Sian!" Kaye exclaimed, as she was about to run back inside.  
  
"Kaye, no." Kento replied sadly as he grabbed onto her.  
  
"But Kento, he could be…" Kaye said as she started to choke back her tears.  
  
"I know Kaye, I know." Kento replied as they held each other. The other Ronins bowed their heads sadly as they too started to mourn for Sian.  
  
Just then, "you know, they just don't make buildings like they use to." Sian said as he was coughing as he started to come out of the tunnel.  
  
"Sian? Sian, you're alive, and you're not a hunter any more, are you?" Sage asked as Sian finally joined them.  
  
"Nope, I'm not a hunter any more. I got the antidote and Dante is good as dead." Sian replied with a smirk. "Looks like you guys didn't have any trouble with Jakobe."  
  
"Actually, we did have a little help from the warlords. But just a little." Ryo said with a smirk.  
  
Just then a fierce wind kicked up, and started to pull everyone and everything towards it. "What the heck is going on? Where did that come from?" Kento asked as he yelled above the wind.  
  
"Judging by the force of it, I would have to say it's some kind of vortex." Rowen yelled back.  
  
"What!? Are you serious? Now?! Oh great, now what are we suppose to do?" Kento asked as he glanced over at him.  
  
"Actually, for once, I don't have the slightest idea." Rowen replied as he ducked.  
  
Just then a bright light began to glow at the end of the vortex, and at the same time, Sian's sub armor began to glow as well. "What's going on? Am I suppose to..?" Sian wondered as both lights began to glow with more intensity, as Sian got closer.  
  
"Sian, what are you doing?!" Kaye called out to him.  
  
"I think that I know how to set things right again." Sian replied as he looked back.  
  
"Sian no, don't!" Kento shouted out to him, as he got even closer to the light coming from the vortex.  
  
"If I don't, then neither realm will exist!" Sian shouted back. "Mom, dad, I love you both! Goodbye!"   
  
"Sian!" Kaye and Kento exclaimed at the same time, as he was pulled through the vortex. As soon as Sian was pulled through, the vortex shut and both realms started to go back to their original places.   
  
A few hours later…  
  
"I thought that I would find you here." Kento said as he walked up to Kaye as she was looking over the still ruined center.  
  
"Sorry Kento, it's just…" Kaye replied as she lowered her head.  
  
"I know I miss him too." Kento said sadly as he brought Kaye close in to him, while Cye, Rowen, Ryo, and Sage joined them in saying goodbye. 


End file.
